The stage premiere of the nerve-shredding thriller will take place at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds from 12 May, with a UK tour being scheduled, too.

Jill is best-known for her role as Kate Mitchell in BBC One's EastEnders from 2002-2005, and she most recently starred in BBC One's Three Girls – a powerful retelling of the true stories of victims of grooming and sexual abuse in Rochdale.

The actress also won an Olivier Award in 2011 for her stage performance in Legally Blonde, and starred as Roxie Hart in Chicago in the West End.

'What I love about the book is that every character has done something they think perhaps morally they shouldn't have done,' Jill told BBC News.

'So no-one can stand up and say, "I am completely innocent". So I guess it's about embracing the flaws.'

On playing such a complex and fallible character, she added: 'Rachel's not always likeable, and that's OK.

'I think you want to try to convey to an audience that we're all flawed, we're all messed up, and if you don't think you are, then you're probably lying to yourself.'

She continued: 'It's about saying, let's accept that none of us can take the moral high ground, and people do make mistakes, but hopefully you can get yourself out of them.'

West Yorkshire Playhouse artistic director James Brining added: 'It's got a really strong female protagonist, it's written by a woman and adapted by a woman, and it's got a female character with agency at the heart of it'.

The novel has been adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, and will be directed by Joe Murphy.